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24 April 2008

eM (and scout's) excellent adventure-II

Previously on The Compulsive Confessor:

eM goes to Singapore and is rather jet lagged. She meets scout and of course, they begin drinking immediately. They are at Clarke Quay and Aurora and scout are being rather patient and posing for many photographs.

Clarke Quay reminded me a little bit of the India Habitat Centre, if the IHC had bars everywhere you looked. And no red brick. Okay, so it wasn't so much the IHC, but it had all these metal things in the middle that could be at the IHC. We went to a barccalled The Highlander (Scottish theme, waiters in kilts, huge stag horns as decoration--hey, do they welcome stags out of curiousity?) where their friends were playing, one of whom commented on my last post, let's see if I can find his URL. Ah, here we go. Anyway, the music was good, and there was vodka-Red Bull and I was beginning to get my second wind at this point anyhow. (Deepti and I have timed to an art my bursts of energy. My second wind usually appears around 10.30-11ish, only to vanish around 1 am. My third wind appears at around two and that lasts till five in the morning, mostly. But since I was in a different time zone I think that got slightly messed up.)

Post Highlander we moved to the Singapore TC (I love discovering TC equivalents all over the world) called China One (which brings me to another digression, sorry, I'm full of them tonight. It occured to me that almost all cities have a China something. Bombay has China House, Delhi has Indo Chine, London has a China One again, I think. New York, as far as I know, doesn't.) It wasn't exactly TC, because they played mostly hip-hop, but every now and then the band would break into something like Take On Me (take on me! take me uppppppppp!). And it was there that I was introduced to the Jaegerbomb--a jaegermeister shot in a glass of Red Bull, and yeah, about as deadly as it sounds. Given that I had devoured two vodka Red Bulls at this point and was working on my third, I think my heart just skipped several beats. Third wind? I was on my hundred and twenty fifth.

FINALLY, around two in the morning, my body decided to give up and go home without me. Sadly, I said goodbye to the girls who were still going strong and went back to the hotel where I slept for twelve solid hours, only waking up when scout called me the next day and realised that I was starving. I had barely had any dinner the night before and obviously, missed breakfast so at this point I could have eaten a cow if it was unfortunate enough to wander into my path. (Mmmmmmmm, cow.)

We went to Orchard Street (or was it road?) and went to a Burger King. Don't laugh, I go to a Burger King each time I'm abroad, just for the bacon cheeseburger. Chicken burgers here just aren't the same, and I've had the beefburger at Crepe Station and stuff, but it still doesn't taste like Burger King! It was turkey bacon though, but I was so hungry, I didn't care. scout and I made zero conversation during the entire meal, until finally, full and replete, we went scouting (scouting. hee.) for a smoking spot where we just vegged for a bit and people watched.

And then it was shopping time! Well, more for her than for me, because I just wandered around Zara and Top Shop and things and made admiring noises while she tried things on, and coveted a set of fridge magnets in the shape of cat bottoms. Sigh. Those were nice fridge magnets.

And then, amidst shoe shopping, scout had to go and do this. So Aurora and I went to Starbucks and I people watched some more and when she got back, I gave her my 'boys lie and sometimes stink' pep talk (excellent pep talk by the way, I've used it on myself many times) and we collared her and went to the nearest bar, the name of which I've forgotten but it was very TGIF.

Oh but before that we went and bought me a New! Red! Bag! So shiny! So red! So patent leather! I love it. I want to rub my face against it and yes, yes, make babies with it, shiny red clutches. Everyone feels better with a little retail therapy. I don't know why I needed to feel better, but you know, empathy and all.

Anyhoo, we bitched about the men we knew and I, of course, made inappropriate joke type comments (but, hey, in my defense: a) I'm not good with crisis situations and b) she LAUGHED. Ask her!) and then we went back to theirs so everyone could get dressed and we could go on our Grand Girls Night Out.

I looked alarmed at the time but I was told to "Relax, dah-link, this is Singapore and we only go out at one am." Fine. I read Aurora's Archie comics and drank my drink quietly and waited for other people to make leaving noises (which HAH they totally did at like 11 even though we were in Singapore and people only go out at one. Pffft.) Finally everyone departed and scout and I went back to the hotel so I could shower and change and then once more to Clarke Quay. I love going to the same place twice on holiday. It's sorta nice to see something familiar, to be acquainted with it already, to stop gaping at things, you know? And we went to China One again, which was also nice, because I already knew where the smoking area was and where the loo was and I didn't have to ask anybody.

Ooh and I met many people. Besides scout's friends, I also met a friend of a friend in Bombay and someone who reads my blog! Hello! We were ALL so drunk though (and by 'we', I totally mean 'me') that there was much backslapping and confession making and tequila shotting.

After three drinks I was ushered out of there and to a place called Attica, which was more nightclubby, with smoke lights everywhere and a dance floor. Surprisingly cheaper than the other place though. There were so many of us in this enclosure (VIP, ahem) that it didn't matter what the rest of the crowd was like (only, it did later, as you will soon find out). I danced, drank part of a pitcher of LIIT, took many pictures (but you have to be on my Facebook list to see them, sorry!).

And then we needed a cigarette, so scout and I excused ourselves and went outside and met many of her friends, one of whom was a cutie and at whom I batted my eyelashes. Soon, the rest of the party left (at three am, wusses) and it was only me and scout and Aurora and the Cute Boy, and scout and Aurora disappeared (sorry, were perfect wingwomen) leaving me alone with Cute Boy.

Cute Boy wasn't Indian and so he had a lot of India Questions which I was happy to answer including, "Are you a good Indian girl?"

"Why, of course," I said, demurely, "But then that totally depends on what your definition of a Good Indian Girl is."

He leaned forward and whispered it into my ear and I smiled.

"In that case," I said, "I'm definitely a good Indian girl."

But since I don't kiss and tell (oh all right, don't kiss and blog anyway) suffice to say that as the evening proceeded he knew a lot more about India than he had before.

And the next day, after a sushi lunch, I went home.

Sigh. Great holiday. Thank you to everyone who met me and most especially to my blogging BFF (heh) scout, without whom it wouldn't have been even half as much fun.

uh anon no shit i DON'T have a clue about NY which is what i said. and i didn't mean china town doofus, in which case i could have mentioned the hundred china-something restaurants here also, i meant big nightclubs called china-something.jesus, people should really read more carefully.and crowley, yeah, day one :)

Dude, Clark Quay is lovely, and I never thought about it that way, going to the same place twice in a foreign land and have a little something be familiar. How come you didn't mention the water though? With the boats going up and down - that was my favourite part.